Jaguar Repair: 1984 Jaguar XJ6 Series 3 Fuel Tanks, jaguar xj6 series 3, air flow meter

Question

1984 Jag XJ6   Hello Howard, So, as you can probably guess, I need assistance with my '84 Jag. I recently found the car after it has been sitting in a garage for 12 years, and some other goodly time in a tow truck companies yard, and I was ecstatic to find it in near perfect condition (minor rust, interior deterioration, etc).

Now on to my issue. The previous owner left about a half a tank of gas in the right tank, and about a fourth in the left tank. Now, since the car has been sitting so long, the gas sitting in there is obviously no good. I'm trying to figure out how to drop the two tanks from the body so I can can drain and flush the tanks out, and hopefully get this baby running. I've ordered the generic repair manual, but it'll take time to get here, and I was hoping on being able to get a head start on it.

Any advice that you could maybe give me?

Thanks, Zach

Answer
Hi Zach,

Nice looking Jag. You should drain the tanks in the car as it is a difficult procedure to align the tanks if removed so I would avoid that if possible. The drain plugs are in the bottom of each tank under a large round plastic plate. The plastic plates can be forced to one side and removed exposing the drain plugs.

The tank switching system needs to be tested too. Open both gas filer caps and remove the engine air filter and reach in the front of the air flow meter and open the flap and put something in to hold it open a little (a screwdriver or such) Then turn on the ignition to Ignition only (not start) You should hear the fuel pump running and if you take a flashlight and look in to each filler opening, you should see fuel returning to which ever tank is selected on the instrument panel. If you have a failure of either return valve (located at the bottom of each wheel well) or the switching valve in the bottom of the trunk the right tank will not operate correctly but the left tank will operate correctly (unless any one or more of the three valves sticks in the wrong position)

You should also replace the large fuel filter in the trunk.

Howard